Farm economy needs the workers

TOM VILSACK
Guest columnist

Published: July 5, 2014;Last modified: July 7, 2014 10:17AM

A bill awaiting action in the U.S. House of Representatives would generate $617 million in economic activity and create over 7,000 new jobs in Colorado within the next year. By 2045, the legislation would increase Colorado’s economic output by $4.7 billion.

That bill is the comprehensive immigration reform legislation the Senate passed with bipartisan support June 27, 2013. One year after Senate passage, House leaders have still refused to allow a vote on an immigration reform bill. That delay has brought damaging uncertainty to Colorado’s agriculture industry and is dragging down the state’s entire economy.

In Colorado, agriculture remains a strong economic pillar. There are 36,180 farms in the state that sold approximately $1.3 billion in agricultural products in 2012.

But many farmers in Colorado and across the country are already reporting difficulty finding enough workers to harvest all of their crops in a timely fashion. That means farmers are leaving crops in the field, and money on the table. Without a stable workforce, Colorado’s agricultural productivity will decline in coming years. A recent White House study showed that in Colorado, eliminating the immigrant labor force would cost up to $107.8 million in short-term production losses.

In addition to creating jobs and boosting economic growth, common sense immigration reform brings many workers out of the shadows to ensure they are playing by the rules and that they are not being exploited. Making sure that individuals working here are paying taxes generates revenue that helps close budget deficits and extends the solvency of Social Security. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that the Senate’s immigration reform bill would reduce the deficit nearly $850 billion over the next 20 years, and the Social Security Administration estimates the bill would add nearly $300 billion to the Social Security system in the next decade.

Of course, immigration reform also fortifies U.S. border security and fixes our broken immigration system. Reform would invest billions of dollars in greater manpower and tools to stop illegal immigration. This security, combined with a more sensible immigration system, would provide greater incentive for people to come to America through legal means.

Americans from across the political spectrum want Congress to act on this issue. Polls consistently show a vast majority of Americans support immigration reform. In a June Brookings Institution/Public Religion Research Institute Poll, even 51 percent of Republicans said they support reforms like those in the bipartisan Senate bill. Organizations on all sides of the political spectrum support reform as well: business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Farm Bureau, labor groups like the AFL-CIO and United Farm Workers, and conservative and liberal faith leaders all support comprehensive immigration reform despite their differences on other issues. The Colorado Farm Bureau and Rocky Mountain Farmers Union also support comprehensive immigration reform, among many other organizations in Colorado.

It has been a full year since the Senate acted on bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform. Further delay from the House will increasingly put our economy and our country’s food security at risk. But fixing our broken immigration system will strengthen the border, reduce the deficit, extend the life of Social Security and help create jobs in agriculture and other industries, boosting Colorado’s economy.

The American people want to see action on immigration reform. After a year of delay, it’s time for representatives in the people’s House to vote.

Tom Vilsack serves as the 30th United States Secretary of Agriculture.